UNFO LEAVES THE WORLD ALONE

first performed on September 7, 2014
ENTER>text: In The Air, Los Angeles, CA
performed once in 2014

UNFO (UNAUTHORIZED NARRATIVE FREEDOM ORGANIZATION)

Harold Abramowitz, Amanda Ackerman, Andrea Quaid

Los Angeles, California

UNFO LEAVES THE WORLD ALONE

UNFO (UNAUTHORIZED NARRATIVE FREEDOM ORGANIZATION)

How does the compromised body relate? Relate to itself, to others, to the living world, or to the relics and remnants of the past? And, also, when should this body leave the world alone? Can it leave the world alone?

These were questions that Harold Abramowitz, Andrea Quaid and Amanda Ackerman (UNFO) were asking while creating a performance in which we would leave the world entirely alone. We called it “UNFO Leaves the World Alone.”

We decided to create a text-based performance in which the following would happen: a random number of people would be brought into a room. Then we would say something like the following: “Hello. We are UNFO (the Unauthorized Narrative Freedom Organization), and for the next five minutes, you are the world.” We would offer them a set of index cards, of which they could choose three. On each card would be a set of instructions. We would tell the world, “You may execute these instructions in any manner you see fit. This includes the option of not executing any of these instructions at all. Good luck. We will come back to get you soon.” Then we would walk away, close the door behind us, and leave the world alone.

The room would also have some basic materials like blank notebooks, lined yellow paper, pens, pencils, tape, and one pair of scissors.

The room where the performance took place was inside a small guesthouse. It had a bathroom, a sink, a bed, some cupboards, a desk, a chair, and some art on the walls. It had large sliding-glass doors so we could actually look in and view the world if we wanted to take a glance.

Throughout the course of the night, several worlds were built and then replaced by new worlds. Each world existed as the world for about five to seven minutes. The smallest world consisted of one person and the largest of about twelve people.